


Right

by kitten_walker



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Asexuality, Christmas, Explicit Language, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-27
Updated: 2013-11-27
Packaged: 2018-01-02 19:41:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1060805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitten_walker/pseuds/kitten_walker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi's peaceful life is suddenly wrecked when he meets his new neighbour, but maybe it's not a bad thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Right

With a loud bang Levi manages to slam the door shut.

He hears a distant “Fuck” and when he turns at the sound all he can see is a couch. Falling. From the stairs. At him. Fuck indeed.

Before he can think of anything else he drops the bags he’s holding to the ground and puts up his hands maybe in order to slow the thing down, maybe in order to shelter himself. Maybe both.

Seconds later all he can hear is a crack. In his left wrist. And it hurts. Shit. It hurts. He groans. The wrist hangs a bit unnaturally and he definitely has a bad feeling about it.

“Are you fucking crazy?” an angry voice echoes through the hall as someone runs down the stairs.

Levi grumbles. Just fantastic.

“Oh my god! Shit! Are you alright?” there’s a shift in the tone of the incomer’s voice.

Still pressed against the door, somehow he pushes the piece of furniture just enough to move away. He’ll probably get bruises later.

“I really didn’t mean to!”

He tries to move his fingers, wrist, anything. It doesn’t really work. Finally he looks up to glare at the young man. Brown hair, bright eyes. Taller than him. Definitely in need of a comb.

The expression on the kid’s face is a mixture of horror and relief and if it were any other situation Levi might even find it funny.

“Are you alright?” he repeats, his voice insecure.

“What the bloody hell were you thinking?”

“I-“

“Oh, you weren’t.” Levi shakes his head and looks at the bags on the ground. “’Bet you flushed your brain instead of your morning crap.”

The brat frowns. “Well, it wasn’t me who just slammed the door out of nowhere.” Levi notices the irritation in his voice is back. Just brilliant.

“Oh, yeah, so it’s my fault. You just threw a bloody couch at me but it’s my fault.”

The taller one sighs and takes a deep breath. Apparently he’s trying to calm down. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

He nods towards his wrist. “What do you think.”

The kid runs his hand through his hair. He nods. “Can I just call someone?”

Levi rolls his eyes. “You need a permission?”

“Right, I don’t,” the young man reaches to his pocket. Levi settles down on the couch crossing his legs and sighs. He watches the brunet going through his contacts before dialling a number. He hopes it won’t take long. As the bloke starts speaking to the phone Levi zones out. Maybe he should have just called taxi.

His wrist hurts like hell and he could swear he can see the swelling forming around it.

After he’s done with his call, the kid tells him they need to wait for his sister to help him move the couch upstairs. They can’t just leave it in the hall after all. Meanwhile he helps Levi bring his bags to his flat.

“Nice place,” he compliments. Levi shrugs and tells him to knock on the door when he’s ready to leave. The kid gets the hint and leaves him alone.

He tries to cool the wound in the sink a little, not that it really helps.

An hour later, he is sitting in the passenger seat in the kid’s lorry. Which the brat explained isn’t exactly his, he loaned it so that he could move.

 “I’m Eren, by the way,” he introduces himself.

“Good for you.”

They don’t talk much on the way.

The waiting room in the hospital is full of people. Levi wants to punch something, but at the sight of the security guard he decides against it.

He is surprised when Eren confronts the doctor. The kid seems angry. His brows furrowed into a glower and the volume of his voice a little too high.

“Calm down, sir.”

“How am I supposed to calm down?” Eren shouts. “Our granny’s funeral is in half an hour and we can’t make it!”

Levi gives him an incredulous look. What the hell is the kid on about? This can’t work out.

“Just look how miserable my... cousin here looks!”

Wait, what?

The look the doctor is giving Eren seems rather doubtful, but then he turns to Levi and gives out a sigh. “Come in.”

What was that supposed to mean?

The people he just apparently overtook look pretty much pissed. Eren winks at him and Levi thinks that maybe he isn’t that bad.

-

In the evening Levi is sitting in his living room watching the plaster cast wrapped around his arm. Only his fingers are peeking out, they were still a little white when he got back so the first thing he had to do was wash them, obviously. The fact he won’t be able to wash it for about another six weeks is dawning on him and he grumbles in disgust.

The diagnose was broken wrist. Just wonderful. The doctor told him to put a plastic bag over the cast when he takes a shower. Practical as fuck.

There’s a light tap on his door and he’s not sure if it isn’t just his imagination, few seconds later it’s followed by actual knocking, so he gets up.

It’s Eren. Not that he’s too surprised. The kid is holding two bowls covered with pots.

“Thought you might be hungry...?” he says making it sound more like a question and giving him an insecure smile. Levi considers it but in the end he lets him in. Even though it’s this bloke who is responsible for his pretty much screwed wrist, who is he to reject food? Also, he actually looks apologetic. Hopefully, he won’t try to poison him or something.

Eren is forced to wash the plates before using them and when he asks what’s the point, they were clean in the first place the answer Levi grumbles is “Don’t ask stupid questions”  and the young man just shrugs and doesn’t question it anymore.

The contents of the bowls smell just splendid. Like food. An actual food. Not just ramen noodles, pizza or whatever microwave shit Levi’s been eating for the last, he doesn’t even know. Sometimes he would go to a restaurant, but those were only special occasions. Last time he was in a restaurant it was with Erwin and Hanji and the waiter asked him for his ID to prove his age when ordering a wine. The shitty four-eyes almost choked as she laughed, and Erwin didn’t even bother to cover his amusement. Arseholes.

“Did you make it?” Levi asks during the meal.

 Eren nods. “I know it’s just pasta, but-”

“Shut up. It’s brilliant,” Levi cuts him off. The kid can actually cook. Suddenly the sentence of  “If you need anything just tell me” sounds so much more promising.

“Really?” Eren sounds excited and then he coughs awkwardly, making Levi almost smirk. “So, I didn’t quite catch your name.”

Levi looks up from his plate. The look Eren is giving him is suspicious somehow. “It’s Levi.”

At that Eren grins and Levi knows what he’s on about. “Like the writer? Levi... Something...?”

Something. Levi grumbles. “What, want an autograph?”

“Actually, I already have one. From last year’s tour.”

Levi has been on tour with two books of his trilogy ‘Wings of Freedom’, which follows story of a Captain in a certain military fraction which fights giant monsters. After the first one was met with such a great success Erwin, as his publisher, to his displeasure suggested it would be very good for the promotion.

“I love the series,” Eren proclaims, the tone of his voice enthusiastic. “We always did RP’s with my sister and friend. I was usually the Shifter. You know, I actually cried when the Captain died in the last book.” He stops and the way he turns red along with the look on his face is hilarious.  “Don’t laugh,” he buries his face in his hands.

Levi looks amused. “Why would I laugh at my fans.” No, really, they might be annoying sometimes, but they bloody feed him.

He couldn’t really deny the fact he felt quite unsettled about killing his main character himself. Although he was aware how much it will probably piss the readers off, he couldn’t help it. Even though it left the series an open ending he knew it was finished for good. There just wasn’t anything else he had to say. No matter how hard he tried the inspiration was gone. He doesn’t know what happens next, if the humanity wins or is lost.

Eren looks up at him again, he looks calmer now and is smiling.

Levi is the one to break the eye-contact. “You should take care of this,” he nods towards the plates.

“Yeah. Sure,” Eren says as he looks away quickly, probably realising he was staring.

“You’ll need to wash my floor too,” Levi announces, and the kid turns to him with an incredulous look. “Not now, idiot.”

-

It’s two weeks later when Levi meets Eren’s sister. He’s standing in his doorway watching the kid scrubbing the floor in front of his flat.

“You missed a spot,” he tells him at the same moment a young woman climbs the stairs.

 “Eren? What the hell are you doing?” she asks shooting a sharp glare in Levi’s direction and then turns back to Eren who is now standing up.

“I’m helping Levi here. You remember? I told you about him,” he answers. “This is Mikasa, my sister,” he introduces her and she shoots him another glare.

“What-“ she starts angry.

“Mikasa, it’s okay. It’s my fault he can’t do it himself,” Eren interrupts her.

“You can’t be serious,” she says unbelievably.

“Here’s the key, I’ll just finish this.” Mikasa still looks fairly upset but takes the key.

“Fine,” she mumbles and shoots Levi another death glare before she departs.

“Sorry,” Eren says. “I told her I’d probably be here if not at my place.”

Levi shrugs. It’s not like he really cares if other people like him. There’s only so much people he can stand after all. Not that he dislikes people, it’s just that well... he dislikes people. They are so obnoxious, loud, whiny and he could just go on. Sometimes he’s not really sure how he actually managed living with Hanji for a whole year and half. Or how is it possible that sometimes he even misses her company.

In the end though, they have a history. If she had refused the promotion back then they might even still be together. Or maybe not, not that it matters anyway.

Besides that she helped him with the technical part of his novels. In one of the former versions the characters were able to fly, which he found sort of ridiculous, so he tried to figure out some mechanism, that would allow them to jump high enough to take down the monsters.

It was also her who kept persuading him to send it to other publishers even after getting so many rejection letters, they could repaper the whole flat with them.

Eren hands him the cleaning supplies and with “Later” he follows his sister.

He’s back in the evening with hot meal. It has become a habit since the first day and Levi can’t really say he’s complaining. Sometimes he actually lets Eren stay and watch a film or two.  He could even say he appreciates the company, but of course, he won’t.

During those evenings Levi found out Eren isn’t exactly as quiet and understanding of when to keep silent as he might have appeared at first.

He’s actually quite loud and he complains a lot. Usually about his co-worker in the comic shop or things he has watched or red.

The other day said co-worker apparently left in the middle of the shift leaving all the work for Eren. The kid was furious. Day later he came with a funny story of how he put a drawing pin on the co-worker’s chair as a revenge. That little bugger looked so self satisfied when he spoke about it. “Serves him well,” he finished.

Sometimes he complains about what his friends did or said. For example Mikasa said something about him going a little overboard, when he told her the drawing pin story and Eren didn’t quite agree.

He gets angry about those things quite often, but surprisingly he doesn’t get upset with Levi.

When they sit on Levi’s couch, the kid tends to speak during the films, not too much to disregard it though. Usually it’s just comments on the characters or plot twists in the story.

But as surprising as it sounds he doesn’t even mind it that much. The kid has a nice voice. Not too deep, kind of soft. And Levi thinks he could be a fine voice actor.

That one night, or maybe it’s morning already, they are watching Kiki’s delivery service and as the credits roll down the screen Levi occasionally hears silent snoring.  He looks at his companion to see him dozing off. His head leaning on the top of the sofa’s backrest and it will probably feel as comfortable as weeks of constipation in the morning.

He notices how calm the usually very expressive face looks, it’s almost unnatural, but sort of beautiful. Levi really doesn’t feel like creeping on the young man while he’s sleeping, so he gets up and takes a blanket from the cupboard in his bedroom. When he comes back he adjusts the pillows on the couch and carefully shifts Eren to lie more comfortably. The kid mutters something unintelligible in his sleep but doesn’t wake up. Levi throws the blanket over him and before heading off to his bed he turns off the TV.

In the morning he’s woken up by a slightly distant sound of slamming and banging sounds from his kitchen. At first he thinks someone broke into his flat, but then he remembers yesterday’s night-slash-today’s early morning.

“Good morning,” Eren greets him as he enters the kitchen.

“’Morning,” Levi replies as he takes a seat at the table. Eren starts apologizing about falling asleep, but Levi interrupts him with the usual “Shut up” because really, he doesn’t mind.

As Eren puts a plate in front of him, he hears himself mumble "I could get used to this."

-

Another week later he makes Eren drive him to the hospital for a check up. There’s still the option of public transport, but that’s out of question, and yes, he could call a taxi, but why to make phone calls and talk to people when he already has someone to drive him.

Although, he could still call his friends, he knows Hanji would most likely laugh at him because of the whole thing and he doesn’t want to bother Erwin, who would probably tell Hanji. So the last possibility is Eren. And honestly, Eren actually looks happy about it.

Not that he really manages to avoid his usually too enthusiastic friend anyway. She appears on his doorstep few days later.

“Wow, so you’re still alive,” she greets him as he opens the door.

“Nice to see you too.”

She looks him over and as expected her look stops on the cast. “What happened to you?” she asks, because her idea of what he does all day is most likely him sitting home alone and sipping tea. Seriously. No.

“I wiped my arse too hard,” he replies.

“Aww, you have to be more delicate while handling your butt,” she answers.

He steps aside to let her in.

Later on they are joined by Erwin, who couldn’t make it earlier. So in the evening when Eren knocks on the door, he’s very surprised.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you had friends over.”

“Yeah, neither did I.”

“I’ll come another time,” he excuses himself.

But then Hanji appears next to Levi, pushing him aside and dragging Eren into the flat. “The more the merrier,” she chippers and Levi rolls his eyes. Eren shoots him an apologetic look but he just shrugs in response.

“There’s probably not enough for everyone,” Eren holds out the bowls.

Hanji just waves him off.

“I didn’t know you had other friends, Levi,” Erwin notes and snorts when the shorter man glares at him.

Somehow they manage to introduce among themselves. As Levi watches the scene he feels something. He doesn’t like it. Erwin and Hanji are his friends, yes. Best friends, in fact. But these evenings were supposed to be his and Eren’s. Eren was supposed to be his. Not literally, of course.

It’s the same thing he would sometimes get after introducing them into a book or series he liked and while he wanted to share it, he didn’t, because it was his, but not really. It’s rather confusing and hard to explain.

His guess is, it’s caused by interrupting the schedule they kind of established in the past few weeks. He doesn’t really like messing up schedules, after all. Or maybe he never really cared about schedules and is just jealous. But no, that’s certainly not the case. There’s no reason.

-

It takes another three weeks until he gets rid of the cast completely.

Those past two months were suffering. It’s all itchy underneath the cast and he can literally feel all the germs crawling all over his arm. Biting and penetrating the skin. Just the mental image makes him sick. There were several occasions he considered simply breaking the bleeding cast in order to wash his left hand and then get a new one. He wasn’t so sure if the acting skills of his neighbour would work the second time, though and the image of the overcrowded waiting room made him reconsider the idea.

He wants to burn the thing down, but before he can make it into ritual sacrifice the doctor throws it into the waste bin.

In the evening Eren knocks on the door as usual and when Levi opens he notices, the look on his face seems sort of insecure, which is something he hasn’t seen in a while. He figures the kid isn’t sure if he’s still welcomed since Levi doesn’t have the plaster cast anymore. When he steps away from the door to let him in Eren smiles so widely he practically beams and Levi thinks of how good he looks.

 “So are you working on something now?” Eren asks while taking their plates to the sink, he even does it automatically now, and after a bit of scolding he’s been able to wash them properly. There is a hint of expectation and maybe even excitement in his voice.

“No.”

Eren’s face falls. “Why not?” he asks, his tone disappointed.

“Feels like I already said all I had to,” Levi answers. They stare at each other for a while and Eren shifts uncomfortably. Levi looks away. The sound of water running breaks the silence.

Few hours later the kid is leaving. “Levi?” he turns around just in time before Levi can close the door.

“Yeah?” he looks up.

“I’m throwing a Christmas party,” Eren says.

“Brilliant,” he says deadpan.

“Would you like to come?”

“Spend my night hanging out with shitty brats half my age? My dreams are coming true,” Levi responds sarcastically and regrets immediately when he sees Eren’s hopeful look fall second time that night. “I don’t really celebrate Christmas. Besides there’s that ‘tradition’ that shitty four-eyes came up with because ‘Nobody should be alone on Christmas’,” Levi rolls his eyes as he repeats Hanji’s words. The tradition being him, Hanji and Erwin hitting as many bars as possible.

“Ah, okay,” Eren answers, the disappointment still on his face and Levi realises Eren is actually one of the brats half his age. Well shit.

“See you tomorrow?”

Eren shrugs. “I guess.”

-

“It’s snowing,” Eren shouts excitedly at him exactly the moment Levi opens the door.

“It’ll probably rain soon, so it’ll melt away,” Levi answers and Eren gives him a pleading look. He returns with an annoyed sigh before grabbing his coat.

He’s quite relieved Eren doesn’t seem bothered by the yesterday’s rejection.

“It looks as if someone took a giant sugar shaker and sprinkled everything,” Levi notes when he steps out of the block of flats and hears Eren laugh next to him.

“Right now I can’t believe you’re an author of a bestseller.”

“Eren," he says, and the young man shoots him a curious look. "Shut up.”

The thin layer of snow really reminds him of sugar. He’s not exactly sure what Eren’s former plan was but after a while of walking around they end up sitting on a bench in a park watching the snow fall to the ground. It’s rather cold. They don’t talk. The silence is only interrupted by occasional passing of a car or laughing of some teenagers in a distance.

The sky gets darker and darker.

“My arse is freezing to the seat,” Levi says. Eren looks at him and bursts into laughter. The older man doesn’t really understand what’s so funny. Seriously, his bollocks have probably crawled all the way up to his stomach ages ago. He gets up from the bench and walks back the way they came here and Eren follows him.

The kid doesn’t cook tonight, they just order some pizza. While waiting for the delivery Levi makes the tea, because tea is good with anything, fuck you very much, and Eren is going through his film collection.

“You like Buffy?” he asks excitedly.

“No, I own the whole series because I hate it,” Levi replies as he puts a tray on the coffee table.

Eren chuckles. “I grew up on that series,” he explains then. He’s silent for a minute, glancing from the cover, he’s currently holding, to Levi and back.

They end up watching the second season.

Sometime around ‘Lie to Me’ Eren rests his head on Levi’s shoulder and just now he realises how close the kid’s been sitting all the time. The next thing he knows is, that it’s actually quite comfortable.

It’s been a while since anyone dared to get this close to him physically. And for the most cases he can’t really complain. It’s not that he doesn’t like touching, because he actually does, but it’s not that anyone can just jump at him and touch him however he pleases. Well, unless they’re masochist who feels like getting to know his boots very closely. There’s also the exception called Hanji, who simply doesn’t give a flying fuck about anyone’s comfort zone, and Levi is too used to her for that matter, that he doesn’t mind. Erwin on the other hand usually keeps his distance.

But he’s very comfortable with Eren pressed to his side. Warmth radiating from his body. He seems a little tense, though. The tension goes away the exact moment Levi lightly leans his head against Eren’s.

-

He spots Hanji and Erwin at one of the tables, when the brunette notices his approach she says something to the tall man, and rushes towards him. Before he can do anything she places reindeer antlers on his head.

“Merry Christmas!” she shouts enthusiastically as she hugs him. He pushes her away and she groans. “Where’s your Chrismas spirit?”

“Ho ho fuckin’ ho,” Levi deadpans and Hanji laughs again.

As they sit down Levi takes off the antlers and puts it on the table.

“You two are no fun,” Hanji whines.

“We got a Jägermeister for starters,” Erwin announces and Levi’s mind wanders to his neighbour. Hanji looks at the blond man and chuckles. Levi takes the bottle and pours himself a glass.

“So what about your _neigbour_?” she asks then.

Levi downs the glass and grins lightly at the burning liquid going down his throat.

“What about him?”

“’He still makes you dinners?”

He pours himself another one.

“Maybe.”

-

In the morning - or maybe early afternoon would be more accurate expression - one of the first things he does is running to the bathroom and giving a big hug to the toilet bowl, getting out the contents of his stomach – his current archenemy. He’s not sure when was the last time he got as shitfaced as yesterday.

He’s so bloody sick and it’s so bloody gross. The sour taste in his mouth makes even worse.

Why does he drink again? It’s the question he has been asking himself for years. Maybe he’s too old for this.

It feels like he has been sitting there for hours, when his intestines finally decide to calm down. Or maybe there isn’t anything else to barf anymore. Not that it matters. He pulls himself up and moves to the washbasin to brush his teeth, flushing the toilet along the way.

As he catches his image in the mirror he groans. He’s paler than usual and the bags under his eyes are even worse. He looks like a zombie shit, he thinks.

His head is still spinning. Levi goes through the first aid kit to find some painkillers, lightly doubtful they will work, but what the hell.

On his way to the kitchen he notices the calendar, which surprisingly says it’s the twenty fifth of December. Brilliant. Maybe once he could spend his birthday other way than spewing his guts inside out. Maybe next year.

 There’s a knocking on the door. Oh, who could that be? He opens the door to Eren. The brat looks as bad as his own reflection.

“Hey,” his voice sounds just as tired as he looks.

Levi reaches out a hand, his palm up, which earns him a confused look.

“Do you have any painkillers?”

Levi sighs. “That’s the worst Birthmas ever, you know?” No, it really isn’t. It’s the same every year.

The confusion on Eren’s face goes even deeper. “What?”

“It’s my birthday, nitwit. ‘S even on the bloody Wikipedia, jeez.”

Realisation seems to dawn on the younger man’s face. “It’s the twenty fifth.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

The brunet whines running his hands over his face, through his hair and ruffling it even more. Cute dork. “Wait here.”

Eren runs off to the stairs, leaving Levi baffled. Great, now he’s a dog. He closes the door and goes to the kitchen, he wanted to make himself a tea, after all. Then he moves to his bedroom and takes a neatly wrapped package from the wardrobe.

When he opens the door the second time the brat is grinning at him giving him a not so neatly wrapped package, that has probably more tape than paper.

When he gives Eren his present he gets a surprised look.

“I thought you don’t do Christmas.”

“Fine, give it back then.”

“No.”

Levi actually needs to get scissors to open the package, because it’s impossible to get inside. It’s a film. And Levi is very pleased. Because he bloody loves How to Train Your Dragon.

Although, not feeling like twice used toilet paper, he would be able to appreciate it a little better. But that goes for anything at the moment.

“I remembered you saying Hanji never returned it so...” Eren’s voice trails off and he shrugs. “There you are.”

Levi smirks at him. “Good.”

“Please, tell me, you just didn’t wrap the painkillers.”

Levi rolls his eyes. “No, you twit.” He nods to the first aid kit he placed on the kitchen table. “I even got you tea.” And didn’t even get a ‘thank you’, the youth these days.

Eren unwraps the package and gives Levi an incredulous look. “A comb?”

“Face it, you need one.”

Eren laughs at first, then he goes pale and runs off to the bathroom. Levi’s only hope is he doesn’t make too much of a mess. It feels weird to just sit there though, so he takes the pills and fills a glass with water to bring it to the kid in the bathroom.

As he gets up he realises how tired he actually feels.

“There’s a few spare toothbrushes,” he motions to the cupboard under the washbasin. Eren seems to nod and Levi wanders back to the kitchen so that he can finish his tea before it gets cold.

“You look terrible,” he proclaims as Eren comes out of the bathroom.

“Thanks, you too.” The kid yawns. “Mind if I crush on your couch?”

“Wouldn’t the bed be more comfortable?” At second thought, it doesn’t sound as the best thing he could say if Eren’s expression is anything to judge from. Maybe it didn’t sound exactly the way he meant it.

Eren shrugs then. “Okay.”

Levi’s bed is big enough so they fit in just fine. He takes the spare blanket from the wardrobe.

They lay back to back.

“Don’t you dare honk all over my bed.”

Eren chuckles at that. “It was your idea anyway.”

“No honking.”

They don’t talk anymore. Levi listens as Eren’s breathing goes steady and deep.

-

Levi is woken up by the annoying sunrays and why the bleeding hell aren’t the bloody curtains closed. He rubs his eyes and sits, noticing Eren leaning against the headboard and reading the book he apparently picked from Levi’s night table. He notes he still feels sick, though it’s nothing in comparison with yesterday’s waking up.

“Hey,” Eren says with a smile as he notices Levi isn’t asleep anymore. He has to note the kid looks much better than yesterday.

Levi nods at him.

“Fancy a breakfast?”

The writer considers it, he hasn’t eaten yesterday, so that would probably be a good start. He affirms and then he heads to the shower.

After the breakfast Eren returns to his flat and Levi takes out the detergents, because the place needs serious cleaning.

Later in the afternoon Eren is at his place again asking him to go for a walk.

“To that fucking freezer? It’s worse than bloody Jotunheim,” Levi grumbles.

“Oh come on,” the kid whines, trying the puppy eyes.

“You could just sit at the balcony,” Levi offers. Eren actually glares at him. “Seriously.”

The kid sighs. “Please, just for a while.” Stubborn idiot.

It’s not snowing, there is no snow at all. The sprinkling from few days ago didn’t stand any chance. It’s still fucking freezing though. No wonder they don’t meet anyone. Who in their right mind would even go out in this weather? Or maybe they were all eaten by frost giants.

Levi can hear Eren’s teeth chatter from the cold and he rolls his eyes. He throws his scarf at him. “Let’s go home, brat.”

When they get back to Levi’s he takes out all the blankets he has and takes them to the couch, while Eren makes the tea. As they curl under the covers Eren presses himself to Levi searching the heat. The latter just wraps his arm around him and pulls him closer, leaving his hand behind the kid’s neck touching his hair lightly.

They watch How to Train Your Dragon.

“It’s funny, because most of the film it’s quite sunny on Berk,” Eren comments on the intro.

“You’re a berk,” Levi pokes his cheek with his other hand and the brat grins at him.

During the Forbidden Friendship scene Levi can hear his chuckles muffled by the blankets. He’s not sure what is cuter, this part of the film or Eren’s reaction to it.

The brunet smiles at him and he realises he’s been subconsciously playing with Eren’s hair for a while now.

As the film nears the end Levi notices the sleeve on his shirt is getting wet. He shifts a little to look at Eren’s face. His expression is sort of bittersweet and there are apparent wet trails under his glassy eyes.

“Are you crying?” he asks and Eren lifts his head, wiping the tears immediately.

“No.” He sighs then. “I just remembered...” he stops and looks at Levi who is raising his eyebrows in question. “My father didn’t really take it well when I came out.”

Oh.

The next second Eren is smiling though. “And then the ending. It’s just so, you know.” He rubs at his neck. And he looks so sweet and dorky. Finally Levi realises the proximity between the two of them and it’s been a while something like this crossed his mind, but he just wants to kiss Eren. He doesn’t think of how stupid an idea it is. How it might ruin everything. They tend to start expecting things. Want more. But right now he couldn’t really care less.

Levi cups Eren’s face and wipes the last remains of tears with his thumbs. He leans closer. Eren’s eyes widen a little. As he softly presses their lips together there’s a muffled sound of surprise. Eren’s lips are dry and chapped but warm. And it feels so right.

The younger of them is somehow stiff though, and maybe it isn’t so right after all?

When he pulls away Eren seems to protest just a bit though, and Levi is relieved. He didn’t fuck up.

Eren gapes at him for a bit. “What was that for?”

For being adorable little shit. For sticking around this long. For being stubborn pain in the arse. For being naive idiot. For being loud annoying brat, who sometimes doesn’t know when to shut the fuck up. For being so childish sometimes. For putting up with him.

He smirks. “More tea?”

Eren gives him a puzzled look and a nod.

Levi manages to scramble out of the pile of blankets and takes the teapot to the kitchen. He leans against the table as he waits for the water to heat up. He realises how screwed he is. Because he likes Eren. Likes him a lot. And while he isn’t one to be insecure or self-conscious this is overwhelming, terrifying. It’s been a while since he felt like this about anyone.

When he comes back he finds out Eren crawled out of the cocoon of blankets and is going through his film collection once more.

He’s not quite sure how to act now. It’s not just the kiss, it’s the fact he just realised how much he cares for that little brat over there and he’s not sure when or how that even happened. Or what he wants to do with that. He was quite fine with the way things were until now. Maybe it’s the same case with Eren.

The kid comes back with another film and crawls back into the blanket cocoon pressing himself almost impossibly close to Levi again. He feels Eren’s hand on his thigh and goes a little stiff. Last time he was in such situation it had much more sexual context and after voicing very clearly he wasn’t interested he was called “selfish narcissist” for “keeping ‘all that’ to himself”, which only made him feel sick of the realisation he was being looked upon like an object, piece of flesh.

He doesn’t want things to go this way again, not with Eren. Levi shifts a little away then.

-

“See ya,” Eren says at the doorstep and Levi nods at him. He turns and makes two steps before turning around just second before the writer can close the door. “Levi?” he asks and the man in question has a weird déjà-vu feeling. He has seen this scene before.

“What is it?” he asks.

Eren looks at him, turns his gaze to the floor then to the window, after that to the stairs, back to the floor. He shifts. Takes a deep breath. Then he looks at Levi again. “Would you go out with me? As on a date?”

Levi sighs. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Eren frowns. “Why?” he asks confused. “Before... I thought...”

“Sorry.”

“What?” he says shaking his head. “First you’re all cuddly and suddenly you go so reserved.”

“Eren,” he tries to interrupt him.

“Did I do something wrong?”

 “What? No!” He runs a hand through his hair. What has he got himself into? He supposes it was the kiss that triggered this. Why did he had to do that? Why couldn’t Eren just let it go? It was just one bloody kiss, it shouldn’t even mean anything these days, right? “It’s just.... Look, I’m not exactly ‘dating’ person.”

“Oh, so you just wanna get laid?” he looks hurt now.

He’s getting it all wrong. But can he really blame him?

“No, shitwit. I don’t wanna get laid.”

Eren looks even more confused. “Then what’s the problem?”

“I don’t wanna get laid. Like, at all. I just don’t shag.”

Eren blinks. “What?”

Levi groans. It’s not the kind of conversation he would like to have on his doorstep. “For fuck’s sake, just how thick you are?” his voice is calm as usual, though now it bears tracks of irritation.

Eren’s jaw clenches. He actually looks quite pissed off and Levi would appreciate it if he manages to avoid shouting. “Yeah, I’m just and idiot who doesn’t even know how to wipe his arse properly.” Well, maybe next time.

“That’s not what I said, idiot.” And there we go again. “Get your head out your arse and listen, you pile of monkey dump. What I’m trying to say is-“

“-you’re not interested. Fine. I get that.”

“It’s not-“

“I’m tired,” he interrupts again voice firm and louder than necessary. “Goodnight, Levi.” Eren turns his back on him and he just stands there. He doesn’t try to go and stop him. In the end he smashes the door against the frame. He wants to kick something.

One of the things that pisses him off the most is the fact that the only thing the brat could assume was he was only looking for a fuck. He wouldn’t even let him explain himself.

-

Eren isn’t back the next day, nor the day after and Levi isn’t even surprised. Now he’s only pretty much pissed off at himself, mostly because he actually misses him. He tried to pretend it’s only Eren’s cooking he misses, but then he remembered the conversations they had and the ‘funny’ stories he always had to tell after coming home from work, his warmth and soft hair and eyes so bright. He even misses all the complaints. It’s all so bloody ridiculous.

The worst thing is that when there’s a knock on the door he gets so hopeful. Then he’s just disappointed when he sees Erwin.

“I thought I gave you the key,” he says as he lets him in. But Erwin answers he wouldn’t like to interrupt his privacy like that. Levi snorts.

“You’re quite unreachable,” Erwin notes then.

The shorter man shrugs. “Didn’t feel like turning the phone on. Tea?” he asks as he takes the teapot to refill his own cup.

“Fine with me,” he answers and Levi brings another cup for his friend.

“Anyway, this came yesterday,” he hands him an envelope. Levi takes it. There’s his name on it but the address is the publisher house. When he reads it his eyes widen a bit.

“Wha- they want to turn them into films?”

“Apparently,” Erwin affirms waiting for any other statement from the writer’s part.

“Is there a contract as well?” he mumbles as he goes through the papers. “I won’t sell them shit if they fuck up the script,” he says then.

“I figured that. You should be even able to have a say in the casting for the characters.”

“Not bad.” It’s bloody brilliant. He can imagine the reaction when he breaks the news to Eren, he’ll probably get all excited and will plan who to cast himself.

His face falls. Shit. That’s not happening, is it.

“Levi, are you alright?” Erwin asks as he puts the cup back on the saucer on the coffee table.

“I’m fine. Just tired.”

“I’ve known you for a while. You looked almost excited just a second ago. What is it?”

Levi sighs he considers it for a minute and then he tells Erwin what happened with Eren. As he talks about it he realises how stupid it all sounds.

It’s only affirmed when Erwin laughs at the end. “Sorry,” he says then when Levi glares at him. Neither of them says anything for a while. “So that’s all?” Erwin asks then, as if it isn’t clear.

“Sod off,” Levi grumbles.

“No, really. You’ve been sulking here for what, two days?”

Levi’s only answer is “Tsk,” because no, he most definitely doesn’t sulk, what does that even mean, the word isn’t even in his vocabulary.

“Didn’t you try to explain things to him?”

“If that little tosser wouldn’t keep interrupting me, maybe I would have even managed that, you know?”

Erwin sighs. “Do you like him?”

“No, I hate that little piece of fuck,” he grumbles in response.

Erwin raises his big eyebrows. No, really were they always this big, because that’s actually quite creepy.

“Levi?”

He is distracted from his friend’s eyebrows and sighs. “Yeah. But he’s an idiot.”

“Well, two can play that game, am I right?”

He gets another glare from Levi for that. They sit in silence for another couple of minutes. Erwin’s right, though. Levi feels like an idiot. He sighs. He’s still confused. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Maybe you should apologize.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Well, you called him ‘a pile of monkey dump’, didn’t you.”

“That might’ve been a little bit harsh,” he admits.

“Yeah, a little bit.”

For that matter the brat should be used to it anyway.

“Great. And what next? We’re not gonna have a make up shag.”

“Depends on what he has to say and the rest is up to you.”

He runs a hand through his hair.

“Should I like, dunno, get him flowers or some shit? How do you deal with crap like this?”

“Just go talk to him.”

-

When he stands at Eren’s door, or at least he hopes he remembers correctly Eren’s place is on the third floor, he’s actually flustered and it irritates him. He’s having second thoughts again. What if it doesn’t work out? What if he says he’s not interested anymore? What if he says it’s all been a mistake? What if... Shit, just shut the fuck up. He takes a deep breath and knocks.

There’s some shuffling inside and then a blond kid opens the door. And he was so sure Eren’s flat was on this floor.

He probably looks confused because the kid asks “Looking for Eren?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s just cooking, wanna come in?”

Levi shrugs, because why the hell not, he’s got this far so he’s not gonna back out now. The worst possible scenario is Eren kicking him out. Been there, done that. Well, sort of. Their situation can’t really get much worse, so whatever.

The boy lets him in. “I’m Armin,” he introduces himself on the way.

“Levi.”

“Thought so.” Armin leads him to the living room connected to kitchen. He spots Mikasa sitting on the couch flipping through some magazine. Though he hasn’t seen it in a while Levi recognises the couch very well. That bloody thing caused him so much trouble. If it wasn’t for it, maybe he wouldn’t even stand here in the first place. As they enter the young woman looks up and nods as a greeting before returning her attention back to the magazine.

“Hiya,” Eren grins from the kitchen part of the room and Levi doesn’t know what to think. Is this the same ignorant brat who basically told him to fuck off few days ago and then completely ignored him? Now acting like nothing happened?

“Hey,” he answers in his usually calm voice.

Levi sits in one of the two armchairs on the opposite of the couch and looks around. There’s a small library on the wall by the door, though there are some DVDs mixed between the books. There’s a desk with a closed laptop and few books next to it.

He has to note the place looks quite neat and he has to wonder if it’s natural for Eren or if it’s thanks to his own constant bickering and telling him how to do things properly.

Armin crashes on the armchair next to him and has the nerve to try for conversation. Levi’s not exactly in the mood to discuss anything with someone he just met. He just wants to get it over with Eren, so that he knows where he stands.

“If I didn’t know you, I’d think you’re nervous,” Eren points out from the stove and Levi gives him an eye roll in return. Shit, how he missed those chuckles.

After the dinner both Mikasa and Armin leave. Mikasa doesn’t seem twice pleased about it but Levi notices Armin giving Eren the thumbs up gesture before closing the door. As the door click the brunet takes a deep breath before turning to Levi. For a few seconds they just stare at each other expecting that one of them will start speaking.

“So...”

“So...”

They both start at the same time and Eren laughs. Awkward.

“You go first,” Levi says.

“I’ve been thinking,” he starts and Levi has to bite his tongue so that he doesn’t interrupt him. The kid laughs. “Actually, I talked to Armin. I was so angry,” he looks away and after few seconds he continues. “I told him what you said,” Eren looks at him again. “He suggested... Levi, are you asexual?”

In fact, he hates to be put in boxes, but that would be a way to say it. “You could say that,” he shrugs.

Eren nods to show he understands, or at least sort of understands.

“I like you, though,” Levi says then. “And I wasn’t sure how to put up with that shit. But I wanna be close to that idiotic mug of yours.”

“Could you be serious for once?” Eren asks desperate and Levi just hopes he didn’t offend him again. Which reminds him, he came here to apologize in the first place. Whoops.

“I am.”

Eren sighs. “How do you cope with that?” Levi raises an eyebrow and Eren groans. “You said you don’t date.”

“Usually I don’t,” Levi answers simply. He can’t even remember the last time he was on a date. Even with Hanji he couldn’t really call it ‘dating’ they just sort of coexisted, and it was the most comfortable relationship he has ever taken part in up to this point, but he absolutely wouldn’t call it ‘dating’.

“What does that mean? For us?” Eren asks frowning.

“I could make an exception,” he replies.

“Would that work?” Eren asks.

Levi rolls his eyes. “Do I look like some bloody prophet to you? I don’t know.” He really doesn’t have the slightest idea. He also doesn’t know what Eren is expecting from him. Even though he’s fine with doing certain things, there are limits. He doesn’t think he could do more than jerking him off. Blowing him or actually shagging is out of question, besides it being sweaty, filthy and gross in general the mere idea makes him uncomfortable. At some point he tried to overcome it, but never managed that.

“I like you too,” Eren says then. “I wanna try it.”

“You do realise we’re not gonna do the do.”

“Yeah, I thought about it too. It will... it will be still the same right?”

Levi sighs. He doesn’t want to rush the kid into anything. If Eren decides that it’s not enough in a few weeks it definitely wouldn’t be the best thing to ever happen to him. Also, shit would get awkward between them. No cuddling on the couch or nice walks around the freezer. And Levi actually enjoyed it, well, at least the first part.

 “Are you really sure about this? You’re young, maybe you should find someone normal.”

He is smiling now. “I wanna be with you. Besides, you are normal.”

Levi can feel his heart speed up at the last sentence. He never realised it just how much he wanted to hear that. After all those years of hearing shit like ‘you’re just playing hard to get’ or the pressure his parents used to put on him when they started to speak about grandchildren. Although he never wanted kids anyway and never really cared much about others’ opinions of him, it just added to the feeling there was something wrong with him. They never really spoke about their relationship with Hanji, it just was and that was it.

“Fine.”

Eren’s face brightens and he makes those few steps and wraps his arms around him. Levi pulls him closer. He is so warm and soft. And he apparently uses the softener with smell of violets. Or he borrowed his sister’s perfume. One of those.

“’Suppose we can go on the date,” he mutters against his chest.

“Yeah,” is all Eren says. Levi turns his head up to face him, digging his chin into Eren’s chest.

“You’re such a dork.”

The kid frowns and Levi moves one of his arms from his back and pokes him into the nose making him laugh.

“What are you doing?” he asks playfully.

“I have no bloody idea.” And he really doesn’t, but for once he feels content and that’s enough for him.


End file.
